The WordPress Process, Part 4

By on January 31, 2010 in Tech

This post comes with a bounty.  Design experts can make an easy $200 by fixing some annoying glitches I am struggling with (one payment per problem solved; email me first).

The WordPress Process is a series of posts at Newsome.Org, documenting my forced march from the comfort of Blogger to the uncharted territories of WordPress.  Parts 1 & 2 are here, and Part 3 is here.

I have all posts imported.  Except as noted below, I have a handle on modifying my theme to make things the way I want them.  I have my Twitter widget installed, and I have installed a Feedburner plugin and updated my Feedburner feed.

Here are my theme-related issues:

1. Why does my theme resize up my logo/graphic in the header?  I have looked everywhere for this code to fix it, and I can’t find it.

2. I need to fix the greenish background around the page tabs in the header.  Again, I can’t find this in the files.

Any WordPress designers want to make a quick $100 (via Paypal) by fixing these problems and generally improving my header?

3. I note that my YouTube embedded videos didn’t make the transition. That’s going to be a pain to fix by hand.

I also ran into trouble importing my Disqus comments.  I have Disqus set up for new comments (though I want the number of comments and reactions to show at the bottom of posts on all pages), but I can’t get my existing comments to show on my imported posts.  Another $100 (via Paypal) to anyone who can fix this.

I installed an AddtoAny plugin to allow items to be shared.  It seems to work pretty well, but I absolutely hate the fact that it appends a note to the end of shared Tweets.

I need to lose that somehow.  I tried to hack the php file, but didn’t see the code that adds this.

Overall, things are coming along.

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About Kent

Reader, writer, arithmeticer. Proprietor of Newsome.Org, a tech, music and life blog.
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  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    Kent first regarding your YouTube problem. Grab this plugin – Smart YouTube http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plug… then all you need to do is place the YouTube URL in the post and the plugin will handle the rest automagically. You can also search the WordPress plugins from your Admin and auto install from there.

    I'll take a look at the rest.

  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    Kent first regarding your YouTube problem. Grab this plugin – Smart YouTube http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plug… then all you need to do is place the YouTube URL in the post and the plugin will handle the rest automagically. You can also search the WordPress plugins from your Admin and auto install from there.

    I'll take a look at the rest.

  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    chances are your menu background problem is in the master.css stylesheet that is imported into the style.css file but I can't pull it out so I can't be 100% sure.

  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    chances are your menu background problem is in the master.css stylesheet that is imported into the style.css file but I can't pull it out so I can't be 100% sure.

  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    is the logo block suppose to be on the right side? rather than overlapping the photostrip?

  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    is the logo block suppose to be on the right side? rather than overlapping the photostrip?

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    Many thanks. I installed the YouTube plugin.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    Many thanks. I installed the YouTube plugin.

  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    regarding Disqus best bet is to get a hold of Daniel @danielha on Twitter – he'll put the team on getting it fixed for you.

  • http://www.winextra.com StevenHodson

    regarding Disqus best bet is to get a hold of Daniel @danielha on Twitter – he'll put the team on getting it fixed for you.

  • http://internationalsportingclays.com/ Jason

    I don't know exactly why your header graphic would get re-sized but there is usually a section in the Default.css file of your theme called “Branding” here is where you usually can adjust the size and spacing of the header area.

  • http://internationalsportingclays.com/ Jason

    I don't know exactly why your header graphic would get re-sized but there is usually a section in the Default.css file of your theme called “Branding” here is where you usually can adjust the size and spacing of the header area.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    The logo and the photo are the same jpg. That's not the way I did it initially, but I tried that to fix another problem I was having. This header is harder than the rest of the process combined :)

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    The logo and the photo are the same jpg. That's not the way I did it initially, but I tried that to fix another problem I was having. This header is harder than the rest of the process combined :)

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    If you mean the actual image being resized, rather than there just being a black area around it, you're header has been resized in the process of you uploading it through the WordPress media manager. There are settings in that to control sizes, you might just have to re-upload (I'm assuming you used the media manager from the URL). There is nothing in your theme's CSS that is resizing it, and if you look at the actual URL of the image, it's already at that size – http://newsome.org/media/images/headerpic2010.jpg

    Your tabs have a greenish background because it is in the two image files the theme uses for the tabs (images/bg_nav.giv and images/bg_nav_l.gif). You will have to edit the image files themselves to give them either a transparent background or a black to match your header.

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    If you mean the actual image being resized, rather than there just being a black area around it, you're header has been resized in the process of you uploading it through the WordPress media manager. There are settings in that to control sizes, you might just have to re-upload (I'm assuming you used the media manager from the URL). There is nothing in your theme's CSS that is resizing it, and if you look at the actual URL of the image, it's already at that size – http://newsome.org/media/images/headerpic2010.jpg

    Your tabs have a greenish background because it is in the two image files the theme uses for the tabs (images/bg_nav.giv and images/bg_nav_l.gif). You will have to edit the image files themselves to give them either a transparent background or a black to match your header.

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    Oh, and you won't be able to change the AddtoAny thing. The links in the AddtoAny widget actually go via their server, which redirects you to Twitter from there. The via is added during the bounce.

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    Oh, and you won't be able to change the AddtoAny thing. The links in the AddtoAny widget actually go via their server, which redirects you to Twitter from there. The via is added during the bounce.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    Thanks. I have searched the master.css file far and wide. There is a header section, but nothing that addresses the tabs or the graphic resizing (at least as far as I can tell).

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    Thanks. I have searched the master.css file far and wide. There is a header section, but nothing that addresses the tabs or the graphic resizing (at least as far as I can tell).

  • http://labnotes.org assaf

    1. It doesn't. The logo/graphic shows as background image on the empty header element. You can't control the size of background images. If you want to resize it, you'll have to use an img tag instead.

    2. Tab background is composition of two images: images/bg_nav.gif and images/bg_nav_l.gif. To change background color you'll have to edit these images, or use different ones.

    Look at the styling of #header, #nav li and #nav li a in master.css to see which images are being used.

  • http://labnotes.org assaf

    1. It doesn't. The logo/graphic shows as background image on the empty header element. You can't control the size of background images. If you want to resize it, you'll have to use an img tag instead.

    2. Tab background is composition of two images: images/bg_nav.gif and images/bg_nav_l.gif. To change background color you'll have to edit these images, or use different ones.

    Look at the styling of #header, #nav li and #nav li a in master.css to see which images are being used.

  • http://labnotes.org assaf

    I believe Disqus shows comments that match the post URL. Look for var disqus_url = 'http://www.newsome.org/?p=1659 ' on this page. To get comments to show on older posts, you'll need to use the same URLs you had when you hosted on Blogger.

    I think there's a way to extract them from the post metadata key blogger_permalink (see http://www.labnol.org/internet/switch-from-blog…)

  • http://labnotes.org assaf

    I believe Disqus shows comments that match the post URL. Look for var disqus_url = 'http://www.newsome.org/?p=1659 ' on this page. To get comments to show on older posts, you'll need to use the same URLs you had when you hosted on Blogger.

    I think there's a way to extract them from the post metadata key blogger_permalink (see http://www.labnol.org/internet/switch-from-blog…)

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    Or just change your WordPress permalink setting to match what you had on Blogger, since that would also fix the problem of loosing all your Google juice.

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    Or just change your WordPress permalink setting to match what you had on Blogger, since that would also fix the problem of loosing all your Google juice.

  • http://internationalsportingclays.com/ Jason

    I think Assaf below might be on the right track with the IMG tag. That's the way mine is set up.

  • http://internationalsportingclays.com/ Jason

    I think Assaf below might be on the right track with the IMG tag. That's the way mine is set up.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    Many thanks. I found the images and can edit them. Next I'll work on the img tag.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    Many thanks. I found the images and can edit them. Next I'll work on the img tag.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    I would really love to do that, but the plugin that is supposed to preserve the permalinks isn't working. Plus my old post pages are .shtml, which might require some .htaccess modifications.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    I would really love to do that, but the plugin that is supposed to preserve the permalinks isn't working. Plus my old post pages are .shtml, which might require some .htaccess modifications.

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    You should be able to get pretty damn close without a plugin. In your Dashboard, go to Settings > Permalinks, and you can format something that matches your old format – including putting .shtml at the end. As long as that file doesn't actually exist, WordPress will handle it and match it to a post, no more .htaccess tweaking necessary.

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    You should be able to get pretty damn close without a plugin. In your Dashboard, go to Settings > Permalinks, and you can format something that matches your old format – including putting .shtml at the end. As long as that file doesn't actually exist, WordPress will handle it and match it to a post, no more .htaccess tweaking necessary.

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    By doesn't already exist, do you mean I have to delete my existing post pages (I published via FTP via Blogger, so those pages are on my server)? That would really be flying without a net:)

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    By doesn't already exist, do you mean I have to delete my existing post pages (I published via FTP via Blogger, so those pages are on my server)? That would really be flying without a net:)

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    I wonder if my logo/graphic is too wide for the header space, and is getting pinched. I noticed a few wide graphics in post bodies that got pinched when I imported them. . .

  • http://www.newsome.org Kent Newsome

    I wonder if my logo/graphic is too wide for the header space, and is getting pinched. I noticed a few wide graphics in post bodies that got pinched when I imported them. . .

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    Well, you could just move them out of the way, but yes…

    Alternatively, you could do the reverse and set up a .htaccess rule to do a permanent redirect from your current structure to a new WordPress structure, which Google will see and follow.

  • http://bradkellett.com Brad Kellett

    Well, you could just move them out of the way, but yes…

    Alternatively, you could do the reverse and set up a .htaccess rule to do a permanent redirect from your current structure to a new WordPress structure, which Google will see and follow.

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  • Peter Schulte

    Hi Kent,
    My question is whether to invest blogging time in WordPress or Blogger. Looks like WP has been a lot of trouble for you. One of my clients has WP going well for him after I set it up on his web host.
    http://mounttotumas.com/wordpress/
    I haven't spent any time with blog templates because content has been the priority so far. Customizing the appearances is high on the list.

    There's a WP blog set up and waiting for me on my web host. I've been using Blogger in a learning-how-to-blog blog.
    http://matalasco-a-sharper-idea.blogspot.com/

    So I'm on the fence. Why WordPress over Blogger?

    Thanks –
    Peter http://www.matalasco.com/index.htm

  • Peter Schulte

    Hi Kent,
    My question is whether to invest blogging time in WordPress or Blogger. Looks like WP has been a lot of trouble for you. One of my clients has WP going well for him after I set it up on his web host.
    http://mounttotumas.com/wordpress/
    I haven't spent any time with blog templates because content has been the priority so far. Customizing the appearances is high on the list.

    There's a WP blog set up and waiting for me on my web host. I've been using Blogger in a learning-how-to-blog blog.
    http://matalasco-a-sharper-idea.blogspot.com/

    So I'm on the fence. Why WordPress over Blogger?

    Thanks –
    Peter http://www.matalasco.com/index.htm